


Back to Square One

by NeroIris



Series: Minewt AUs [8]
Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: M/M, Minho can't flirt, Thomas is only a little helpful, it's really bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 17:19:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11651169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeroIris/pseuds/NeroIris
Summary: “You still haven’t told me why you wanted to come here anyway. Did you want dirty movies?”“WHAT?” Minho screeched. “No!”“Why then?” When Minho didn’t respond, Thomas said cheekily, “I’m going to stick with dirty movies.”-OR- Where Minho tries to flirt with the cute video rental store worker and it doesn't quite go as planned.





	Back to Square One

“How long are we going to sit here?” Thomas asked Minho from the driver’s seat. They had been parked outside California Studios DVD rental store for at least fifteen minutes and Minho was making no move to go in.

“Shut up,” Minho grumbled. “I’m going in.”

Thomas eyed his (still) motionless friend suspiciously. “Today?”

“ _Yes._ ”

“Then go or I’ll drag you in.”

The Asian groaned, “I’m going, I’m going!”

“You still haven’t told me why you wanted to come here anyway. Did you want dirty movies?”

“ _WHAT?_ ” Minho screeched. “No!”

“Why then?” When Minho didn’t respond, Thomas said cheekily, “I’m going to stick with dirty movies.”

“Fine, I’ll tell you. One of the workers is really cute.”

“And I’m assuming she’s working tonight?”

Minho grimaced. This was also part of why he’d been avoiding this conversation. “Well…she’s a he. And, um, yeah he’s here. I think.”

“Nice,” Thomas replied. If he cared about Minho’s revelation, he didn’t show it and Minho really appreciated it. “So are you going in?”

“No. I changed my mind. This was a bad idea, let’s go.”

“Either you go in or I go in myself asking for this guy – what’s his name?”

“I don’t know. So you can’t do that. Ha!”

“ _GO!_ ” Thomas shouted.

“ _ALRIGHT!”_

 

A bell attached to the front door rang when Minho pushed it open, announcing his presence. He quickly scanned the store to find a certain attractive blonde but he was nowhere to be seen. Minho knew it was a long shot, coming exactly a week after he’d last seen the cute worker, but he figured it was at least worth a try. Determined, he decided to roam the aisles just in case.

Just as he was rounding the corner from ‘family’ to ‘comedy,’ he saw a familiar flash of blonde hair and quickly ducked behind the nearest row of movies. The blonde managed to look stunning even in his California Studios uniform: black slacks and a dark blue polo. That level of attractiveness shouldn’t even be legal, Minho thought.

He followed the worker down two more aisles as he restocked the shelves with returned DVDs. He really needed a better name than ‘that cute blonde worker.’ Like his name. And to learn that that he’d need to get close enough to read his name tag. Which would involve some form of verbal communication. For that, he need a plan. He could ask a question, so long as it wasn’t incredibly dumb. _Hey cutie_ , he mused in his head. _I was wondering if you could give me any good movie recommendations?_ No, that’s stupid. Of course he _could_ , he worked at a DVD rental store after all. Maybe something along the lines of _which new releases would you recommend?_ Yeah, he could pull that off.

“Do you need any help?” Came a voice from behind him, startling him out of his thoughts. He spun around and came face to face with the most beautiful blue eyes he’d ever seen. It was _him_ , the cute blonde worker. The fact that he was _British_ too threw Minho off completely, not to mention that he hadn’t yet rehearsed his question. Shit shit shit.

“Uh, I was just, um, looking for some movies.” Somebody come and cut off his ears so he wouldn’t have to listen to himself talk. He quickly grabbed a few off of the shelf nearest him without reading the titles. He thrust them out at the blonde, whose nametag read Newt. “Would you recommend these?”

Newt took them from Minho with a warm smile but it slowly fell off his face as he read the titles. “Um, I’ve never actually, um, seen either of these,” he stammered, a blush tinting his cheeks. He avoided eye contact as he shoved them back into Minho’s hands. “Sorry I couldn’t help more,” Newt said quickly before hurrying off.

Well that was odd. Minho looked at the DVDs in his hands in confusion and the realization slowly dawned on him. The first was titled _Agent Cody Wanker_ and featured a shirtless man in a detective’s uniform. The second was even worse. A half-dressed blonde male was pictured in a suggestive position alongside a gorgeous brunette woman with unrealistically large breasts. This one was titled _On Golden Blond_.

Oh god. Now Newt thought he was some sort of freak. He stuffed the DVDs back onto the rack (which he could now see was full of x-rated films) and hurried towards the exit.

“That was the most embarrassing moment of my life,” he said when he flopped down in the seat next to Thomas, who woke up with a start.

His friend shook himself of sleep and asked groggily, “What happened?”

“I didn’t know what to do so I accidently asked the guy about pornos.”

Thomas paused for a moment before he burst out in laughter. “Oh my god,” he wheezed out between laughs. “That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Just shut up and drive,” Minho replied with a huff.

And though Thomas did as asked, for once, he laughed the entire way home.

 

A week later, they found themselves parked outside California Studios once more. Somehow, Thomas had persuaded Minho to try and talk to Newt again. His argument was that it couldn’t get worse. Minho, on the other hand, could think of many ways it could get worse. He could accidentally knock over a shelf and crush Newt in the process. What if he accidentally _killed_ Newt?

“Minho?” Thomas asked, noticing his friend’s increasing panic. “Are you alright?”

Minho shook his head, “I can’t do this.”

“You can and you will.” Thomas didn’t allow Minho to argue. He got out and stomped over to the passenger seat. “We’re going in together. We’re going to find this Newt and you guys will fall in love and live happily ever after.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Minho groaned as Thomas dragged him out of the car by the arm.

“Probably,” came the reply. “But so are you. Let’s go.”

The same obnoxious bell rang when they entered the store, announcing the approaching disaster that was Minho and his inability to flirt.

“Is that him?” Thomas whispered into his friend’s ear as he pointed (quite unsubtly) at an employee. It most definitely was not Newt. This guy, though also attractive, had bleach blonde hair and large gages.

Minho groaned. “He’s probably not even working today. Let’s just go.”

“What’s this guy’s name again?” Thomas asked innocently.

“Newt,” Minho said immediately. By the time he realized his mistake, Thomas was already approaching the other worker to ask about Newt’s whereabouts. “Shit,” he cursed to himself.

“Can I help you with anything?” Asked a voice with a familiar accent from behind him. He spun around so quickly he became momentarily lightheaded. Newt seemed equally surprised to see him.

“Uh, no. I’m good.” Minho stuttered.

The blonde nodded and turned to go back to work, but Minho stopped him by saying, “Actually I do have a question.”

“Hm?”

“Are you single?” As soon as it was out of his mouth, Minho’s eyes widened in embarrassment. He didn’t even know if Newt was into guys, and even if he were why would he be into a creepy customer who comes in for x-rated films? “Shit, I’m sorry,” he backtracked. “I must seem really really creepy. I’m not, I swear. I didn’t actually come in to buy pornos last week. I came in to talk to you because you’re really attractive and I realize that makes me sound equally creepy so I’ll just shut up now.”

He was an embarrassment to the entire concept of flirting. He ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, contemplating whether fleeing the crime scene would be better or worse than sticking around for the angry response.

“Yes,” Newt said with a shy smile.

Minho’s head snapped up nearly fast enough to give him whiplash. “Uh. Yes…what?”

“Yes I’m single.”

“I- um. Great. Yeah. Me too. But, I mean, you probably could have guessed that. Since I’ve been stalking you.” When what he said sunk in, he hurried to undo his mistake. “I haven’t really been stalking you. I mean, I looked you up on Facebook once, but I couldn’t find you so it doesn’t really count. And I showed up here, but only the one time. And this time. But that’s my friend Thomas’ fault-”

Newt chuckled, not at all thrown off by Minho’s bumbling awkwardness. He pulled out his phone and handed it to Minho, who was still recovering. “Add yourself to my contacts, if you’d like. And be sure to put your name, since I didn’t actually catch it in any of this and I don’t want to save you as ‘that one hot customer.’”

Minho did so quickly and handed Newt’s phone back, grateful that he was able to keep his mouth shut for thirty seconds.

“Thanks,” Newt said, slipping his phone into his pocket. With a devilishly handsome grin, he added, “I’ll text you, yeah?”

“Uh, yeah,” was the only response Minho could come up with. Just when he thought he couldn’t get any more embarrassed, a familiar brunette butt into the conversation.

“Oh, hey Minho! I see you’ve already found Newt! I’m Thomas by the way!”

“Nice to meet you,” Newt said.

Thomas gaped, “he’s _British_ too? You didn’t tell me that, Minho!”

Minho groaned aloud, wondering what he had done to deserve this humiliation. “Please go away, Thomas.”

“Oh god, did I interrupt something?” At Minho’s pointed glare, he continued, “yeah, I’ll just go now.”

Once he was gone, Minho literally facepalmed himself. “Gosh, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Newt said, unflustered as always. “I have to get back to work, but I’ll see you later?”

“Definitely.” At least Minho could say one word without further embarrassing himself.

The blonde gave him a radiant smile and turned to go back to work. Meanwhile, Minho went back to square one: anxiously anticipating their next encounter.

**Author's Note:**

> Are video rental stores still a thing? Either way, this was a fun one to write! Likes/comments are always appreciated! Thanks so much!


End file.
